Stallone's Rocky Sacrifice

A story about how Sylvester Stallone refused to sell the Rocky script unless he could star in it, despite being nearly broke.

"They offered me money for the script. First they offered about $100,000 and I said no. Then they came back with $150,000, but they said 'we'll take the script but you go away, we'll get Burt Reynolds to be Rocky.' Then the final offer was $265,000 but I couldn't be Rocky, and I said no.

When they asked how I could say no when I had only $106 in the bank, I told them it's not that hard to say no to money when you've never had money - you don't even know what money is. If you've never ridden in a Rolls Royce, you don't mind bumping around in a Volkswagen.

I had a pregnant wife and $300 a month rent. The wolf was at the door. My landlady was this big beast of a woman who would show up at my door every month. She was so large she cast almost like a shadow at the door. I remember being afraid of that shadow all the time.

We ended up making the movie for less than $1 million. I cast my brothers and uncles, we did one take on everything. I paid myself the stage actors guild minimum, $600 a week. But the money never mattered - I would have done this whole thing for a donut and a tuna fish sandwich.

It was about the opportunity to prove to myself that I wasn't a liar, that I wasn't living a life of disillusionment. I thought of myself as a creative person, and I had to find out if I was any good or not. If not, it would have eaten at me for the rest of my life. I didn't want to wake up and be 50 years old and realize that I'm this creative person who's never done anything creative - that would be terrible, I'd be living a lie, it would kill me."